


Under the Bed

by rikacain



Category: Thor (2011)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-12
Updated: 2012-07-12
Packaged: 2017-11-09 19:39:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/457631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rikacain/pseuds/rikacain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a monster under Loki's bed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Under the Bed

Loki is ten years of age when he first meets the monster under his bed.

"Hello, young one," the shadow had said, twisting and spilling out of the space under his bed and Loki is paralysed with fear as the shadow finally takes a vaguely human form. He forgets all the spells and runes to draw that his teachers had taught him earlier that day, charms that will protect him from harm. The shadow-monster spreads its arms wide, as if telling him that no, you have no need to fear me for I am harmless, but Loki knows, Loki just knows that this is the monster under the bed Mother tells him about, the one that will draw him into his clutches and take him far, far away from Asgard and into the cold wastelands of Jotunheim. Loki does not want. 

They stay up, Loki's stare never leaving this shadow-monster for the fear what it can do should he take his eyes off it, until exhaustion finally takes him into its warm embrace.

When he wakes, the shadow-monster is no more.

* * * * *

Loki tells Mother and Father and Thor the following day, but no one listens. 

He is tired, last night's staring session doing him no good, and Father decides that it is a figment of young Loki's imagination, nothing more. Thor laughs and jeers at him, apparently having forgotten the countless times he had huddled within Loki's blankets for there is a Frost Giant under his bed, he swears.  _I thought you much more sensible_ , Thor says, eyes twinkling with mirth,  _but perhaps there comes a period where Loki himself is startled by the slightest breeze._

__ Loki insists, but soon his Father grows weary and states clearly that Heimdall himself sees everything and nothing was in Loki's room the previous night to day, and speak no more on this matter or else. 

He bows his head, but Loki does not believe.

Tonight he stays up, watchful for errant shadows and darker shades of grey. The shadow-monster last night was more mist than being, and Loki thinks he cannot and will not hold on to it long enough to show Thor. There must be some other way, and for that he has set up the enchantments that will keep a malevolent entity safely within, runes and markings cleverly hidden within the whorls and swirls of his carpet. He sits down in the middle of his bed, ensconced by his blankets for extra protection, and waits.

He is about to give up on this foolish, foolish task, _Father was right, perhaps I have been far too active in the realms of thought_ ; when the shadow-monster pulls itself out of its dwelling place and rises up far beyond the grasps of the enchantments he had woven.

"Truly a child," it says in what Loki registers as a mocking tone - but Loki has far bigger concerns such as  _he's vulnerable_ . He draws back further, wishing fervently that the shadow-monster will not approach, will not come near, for he does not want to go to Jotunnheim. He considers briefly calling out for Thor.

"Do you honestly believe," the shadow-monster is saying something and Loki listens out of fear, "that such simple and obvious containment procedures can trap me?" It draws ever closer, and Loki panics,  _no, no, no, Father, Thor, Mother please-_

__ The door swings wide open as Mother sweeps into the room, shimmering nightgown and her hair down, and the shadow-monster explodes and is yet again no more. Loki launches himself at Mother, sobbing into her dress, telling her that it was here, please, I don't want to be stolen away - and Mother smiles down at him and tells him that the monster is gone, and child you are safe. She lulls him to sleep with soft lullabies and hushed murmurs, and leaves when the owls start to call to one another.

(The monster still lurks, under the bed.)

* * * * *

He slams the door behind him, fuming and furious - once again, Loki is ignored in favour of Thor's opinions, Thor's prowess, _Thor_. He sets his books back into place with a wave of his hand, muttering darkly toimself over where Lady Sif and the Warriors Three can shove themselves into and not come out, ever. He does not notice the shadows gathering, coalescing into a figure until he turns around and comes face to face with a smoky apparition.

He is frozen to the spot, as yet again, as the shadow-monster stalks closer to him. "Hello," it says and it has been a solid two years since Mother had banished the figure from his room. Or so he thought.

"What do you want?" His voice comes out acidic, cutting - in this one year Loki has grown to see so many things, and the year before he had seen so little. The shadow-monster throws it head back, the air ringing with its mocking laughter. 

"I see the ill-favoured son," it says, and Loki bristles. His fingers flex, at the ready to draw runes and cast this blight away from the realm of Asgard. "I see the child yearning for the attention given in abundance to his better kin."

"I am no child," Loki snaps, the petulance of a child showing. He brings his hands up threateningly. "You then know what this 'child' can do. Leave before I force you out myself."

"You flatter yourself with powers you have yet to have," it replies smoothly. "But know this, you cannot harm me, and in return I will not harm you."

"What does a Frost Giant know of honour?" Loki sneers at this shadow-being.

"I am no Frost Giant, child, and it will serve you well to remember as such." The tone is lower, bordering on spiteful, and Loki can feel a line he cannot cross. "It is in my best interests for no harm to come to you, and likewise from you to me."

"It is in your best interests to leave the realm of Asgard, lest Heimdall sees you," and Loki turns his back on his enemy, keeping an eye on the... There is no reflection in the mirror. He slowly turns back around and the shadow-monster still stands, amused beyond words.

"The Gatekeeper sees me as a shadow, and nothing more," and this is why Father does not believe him and Loki begins to doubt his own mind, for Heimdall sees  _all_ . "Know this well, child. There are veils to deceive the all-seeing Heimdall with, and paths woven between and betwixt the roots of Yggdrasil that may walk you realm to realm. 

"You lie," Loki scowls. The Bifrost, and only the Bifrost may transport them to and from any realms. Any other methods of entrance is non-existent.

"But not to I," and with these parting words that make little sense, the shadow-monster collapses unto itself until it is a mere shadow and no more. 

Loki breathes. 

* * * * *

It is Loki as King, and after Lady Sif and the Warriors Three withdraw from the throne room the shadow-monster reveals itself once again. 

"King Loki," it says as it swirls its way before him. "How does it feel to rule Asgard?"

"Get out of my realm," Loki says harshly. He needs no pretense for this entity no one sees.

"How rude." The shadow-monster comes to a stop before him, close to touch if Loki just reaches. "A King that lacks manners and tact is a short-lived King."

"I need no manners for the likes of you," Loki growls. "You are a threat to Asgard unless I know of your true form, and I classify you as such." He waves his hands, and the smoke clears away, little by little until...

"Oh," he says, patronising, and Loki snarls.

Standing where the shadow-monster had once been is himself, grinning from ear to ear, before he disappears in a twist of green embers and high, mocking laughter rings out and fades away. 

* * * * *

It has been many years since Loki was last King. He fiddles with the runes in his room, having crept into Asgard through the many pathways and shrouded from Heimdall's eyes. The runes twist and glow, until finally they mimic his mind's eye and gives him what he wants. 

Loki is bored, and a bored Loki never bodes well.

The runes flicker before drawing him through a tight tunnel, forcing him in, squeezing him from all sides before finally he ends up under his bed, and the sound of pages flipping one after the other. The floor is no longer musty with dust, but clean with a few random objects poking into his ribcage, and Loki positively grins.

He gathers his shadows about himself, cloaking himself like one would for winter, before crawling out from under the bed and standing to regard whoever it is on the bed.

It is himself.

"Hello, young one," and _oh, this is going to be fun_. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Have some Loki mind-fucking himself. XD
> 
> Thank you for reading.


End file.
